Third Chance
by ghostlyandcoastly
Summary: Danny finds himself frustrated when he encounters a private investigator with a wit that won't quit and a past that won't stay there.
1. First Encounter

First Encounter

Danny and Baez had just brought a man in for questioning about an attempted murder that left a woman in a coma but before they could get more than two questions out, there was a loud, quick knocking on the door of the box.

"Dammit, who is that?" Danny cursed. Baez huffed and opened the door, revealing a woman with dark hair down to her elbows wearing black jeans and a dark red leather biker jacket. Her alabaster skin brought out the stunning green of her eyes. Danny was momentarily stricken but regained his composure and his annoyance in a flash.

"Who are you?" He barked in his New York accent.

"His lawyer." She snapped back. Her southern drawl punctuated her sentence. Danny flashed his eyes back to the suspect.

"How'd you have time to call a lawyer!?" Danny let out in frustration.

"You don't look like a lawyer." Baez challenged.

"I left my beige pumps at home. Now if you'll let me speak with my client, that'd be lovely." Her red lips pursed as she waited for them to leave the room. Baez narrowed her eyes in suspicion and breezed out of the room. Danny stood with his hands on his hips eyeing the suspect who looked entirely too confident for his situation. But Danny knew he had to let this woman, whoever she may be, speak to his suspect- despite how guilty Danny believed him to be. He slammed his hand on the table and took the file with him as he brushed past the woman to go meet Baez.

It was less than five minutes later that the woman came out of the box, not bothering to close the door. She strode over to the two of them.

"I'm going to suggest that you left Mr. Haverly go."

"Really? And why would we do that when he's guilty as hell?" Danny says in his usual petulant tone.

"Because he's innocent."

"That's a new one coming from a lawyer."

"Good thing I'm not a lawyer."

"Excuse me?" Baez pipes up.

"You realize that's a crime right?" Danny was starting to get pissed off. There was something about this woman that got under his skin.

"Are you going to arrest me or would you like to know why I'm here?"

"How 'bout both?" Danny quipped.

"I'm a private investigator. Mr. Haverly called me after the first time you questioned him because he knew he'd _look_ guilty. So he hired me to find out who actually tried to hurt his business partner."

"Business partner? Is that what we're calling affairs these days?" Baez replies.

"You think you can find out who did this but we can't? Because we're the hack detectives while you just like to play one?" Danny tossed back. She rolled her eyes in response. She reached into her bag and pulled out a manila folder.

"Release Mr. Haverly. Don't. I don't really care. My job is done- I'm getting paid. Here ya go." She started to give the file to Danny but changed her mind and handed it to Baez. "My card is inside." She started to walk away as she called out to Danny behind her. "Just in case you want me to make your job easier. My hourly rate ain't cheap but I'll give you a special discount." She looked behind her and winked just before she was out of sight.

Baez was busy looking through the file she'd handed over. There were DNA tests that would've taken them days to get back the results of. There were fingerprints. There was phone records. Even eye witness account even though no one had seen anything when they canvassed the area. All linking back to the best friend of the victim, Sheryl Crosby- the one who made the 9-1-1 phone call to begin with.

"Who the hell was that?!" Danny exclaimed, feeling aggravated.

"According to this," Baez held up the card, "Annaliese Lowe, PI. Danny, seriously. Look at this- it's a solid case."

"From an unreliable source!"

"We have to at least check it out." Baez pushed. Danny sighed and sat down, taking the file from Baez begrudgingly.

"Twenty dollars that Mr. Haverly ends being our guy and this Annaliese Lowe ends up being bogus." Danny hedged. Baez rolled her eyes and went to let Mr. Haverly know that he's free to go.

Twenty four hours and the arrest of one Sheryl Crosby later, Danny found himself in The Bronx, knocking on a storefront, wondering if he had the right address. From the outside you could hear Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark being blasted. He knocked again but it was clear the the occupant could not hear over the noise.

Against his better judgement, he checked if the door was locked- it wasn't. Inside he found the same private investigator- the put-together, witty, and fierce woman he'd encountered before- dancing, eyes closed, with a drink in her hand. Her office had two desks and one office chair. Boxes were stacked atop one another in no particular apparent order. The old stereo that the music came from sat on top one of those stacks.

Danny watched for a minute as Annaliese Lowe dance in a tank top and baggy sweatpants before snapping himself out of it and walking over to the music, turning it down.

Annaliese snapped her eyes opened and jumped, letting out a short scream before recognizing who the man was.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked.

"Door was open."

"So you just happened to be strolling by?"

"That. And you put me out about twenty bucks."

"Ah. You thought I'd be wrong about Sheryl Crosby."

"Could ya blame me?"

"Yes. I could. And you should know better than to bet against me next time."

"Ya know," Danny began, leaning against a bookshelf. "I could still arrest you for practicing law without license."

"Oh, please. What I did was not _practicing _the law."

"Lying to police officers? Hindering prosecution?"

"Of the wrong man!"

"So you say."

"So you know!" She stomped her foot. Danny couldn't help but laugh at that. It was a different side to her than he'd seen yesterday. "What are you really doing here anyway?"

"Came to see the show." Danny gestured to the general area where she'd been dancing. He grinned with a hint of mischief that made Annaliese's knees weaken momentarily.

"Very funny."

"What was that all about anyway? Celebrating showing up the NYPD?"

"Nope. Once a month coping."

"Huh?"

"My daughter is with her father this weekend. Once a month, I get real drunk, most of the time real high- which I guess I'm lucky I didn't buy this month and you really could arrest me- and work on cases in the office. I work better intoxicated." She spoke quick and was turned away, rustling with files on her desk.

"And the Bruce Springsteen?" Danny questioned. He wasn't sure why or how but something about this made him smile. Later he'd feel guilty. He hadn't been attracted to a woman beyond a surface level since Linda died. But in the moment, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She looked up at his Springsteen comment, seeing the laughter in his eyes wasn't in a mocking way but playful way she felt more confident.

"He's just for fun." She replied, unable to keep a small smile from approaching her lips. She frowned as she thought some more though. "What are you really doing here?"

"I looked you up." He shrugged. When he realized that he was indeed out twenty bucks and that her detective work had panned out, Danny checked her out. To see if she could have an ulterior motive. Her frown deepened. She'd figured that would happen sooner or later- although she'd preferred to keep a low profile for the work she does.

"Oh? And what'd you find?" She didn't sound thrilled. Danny wasn't sure how hard he should push her but it wasn't in his nature to be particularly restrained.

"You were the youngest female detective in the history of the Boston PD." She stared at him hard, crossing her arms over her chest. Danny paused, waiting to see if she'd say anything. "You were apparently a great detective by all accounts for two years until you were fired."

"I resigned."

"Sorry. You _resigned_ after your partner shot an unarmed eleven year old boy-"

"Get to your point."

"And you disappeared for three years before becoming private investigator in Atlanta for four years. And you moved here a year ago."

"What else did you find?" She challenged.

"I'm not here to talk about your daughter." A look of surprise crossed her features. Danny's detective experience lead him to surmise that there had been people who had tried to use the information he'd found out on her before. He didn't like her thinking he would do that.

"Well, good." She turned away again, picking up her drink and gulping it down. "What are you here for?"

"Just thought I'd let you know that Sheryl Crosby is going to be brought up in attempted murder charges. And she confessed to the whole thing."

"That's why?"

"Yeah, why else?" Danny certainly didn't have the answer. She studied him before responding.

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"Okay. Well, I'll let you get back to, ya know," He gestured to the radio and at her. She gave him a smile and a nod but before he was out the door, she called out to him.

"I looked you up too."

"Yeah?" He turned, one hand still on the door knob.

"I'm sorry about your wife." Her voice was different than it had been. More genuine, quieter. The reminder of Linda still felt like a sharp object plunged into his heart.

"Me too. See you around."

"You'd hope not. I'd hate for you to lose more money, Detective Reagan." She changed the tone. It surprised him how easy it was for her to switch, how easy she made it for him to as well.

"Danny. You can call me Danny." He opened the door, waving back at her.

"Anna." She called out just as he walked out the door. He smiled as the door closed and he heard Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire being turned up to what could get her noise complaint.

Anna passed out on her desk a few hours later. She had given up on progressing her case. She kept getting distracted by thoughts popping up about a certain detective.

Danny, after making dinner for the boys and making sure they were asleep, laid in bed hours later, oscillating between feelings of guilt over Linda- it still felt like cheating- and feelings of attraction.


	2. Defensive Play

Erin was entirely confident she was going to win this trial. The defendant sold laced LSD to teenagers which lead to the death of one girl and the hospitalization of two others. Pre trial motions had gone her way and the defense lawyer was clearly frustrated at how the trial was going.

So when Danny stepped up to testify, there was really nothing that could have gone wrong. And for most of her questioning, it didn't.

"And when you arrived on campus, you saw this bag?" Erin pulled the picture of the duffle bag the drugs were found in up on the monitor.

"Yes. As you can see, it contained a Ziploc bag and a prescription for-" Erin saw Danny's eyes wander up to a woman who just entered the courtroom. Danny clears his throat then turns his attention back to his sister. "For exelaprethnasone, ascribed to Jason Duff who we later connected as the defendant's college basketball coach." Danny's eyes drift over to the woman in her green bomber jacket, whispering to the smarmy defense lawyer. The defense lawyer smiles like a Cheshire cat.

"No further questions, Your Honor." Erin concludes.

The defense lawyer is still speaking to Annaliese Lowe and Erin doesn't think she has anything to worry about.

"Mr. Pavarotti? Any questions for the witness?"

Danny has a bad feeling about this in his gut.

"Yes, Your Honor." Annaliese hands him a couple pieces of paper. After this, Anna finally looks up at Danny. She seems to smirk and then sits down. "Detective Reagan, is it?" Pavarotti begins.

"Yes." Danny responds, ready to roll his eyes.

"Really? Like ADA Reagan?" Pavarotti questions joyfully.

"Yes. She's my sister." Danny responds succinctly, his tone conveying what he can't say- that Pavarotti could shove it up his ass.

"Brilliant. You two have a lot in common?" Danny notices Anna roll her eyes at this.

"Objection, Your Honor. Relevance?"

"Yes, I think I'll sustain that." Judge Morris looks fed up with Pavarotti's tactics.

"You testified that the bag was open when you arrived?"

"Yes."

"And you stand by that statement?"

"Yup." Danny looks over at Anna who raises an eyebrow back at him. Danny's gut feeling was getting worse by the second. He also couldn't help but notice that even from a distance the color she wore brought out the color in her eyes.

"And the campus police were the ones who searched the room originally?" Pavarotti asked.

"Yes. Which was a legal search since they were campus cops."

"But they could only search the room. Nothing within the room."

"Is there a question in there?" Danny sniped back. He notices Anna's lips perk up into smile at his sarcasm.

"Yes. Thank you. What was the name of the campus officer that searched the room?"

"Daniel Hoffman and Jack Alonzo."

"Thank you. I'd like to admit this affidavit into evidence. It's from Jack Alonzo. He opened the bag. Hence making the search of the bag illegal and I move to throw out the evidence found in my client's bag. His fourth amendment rights were im-"

"I get it, Pavarotti. Sustained. The jury will ignore any previous mention of the drugs found in the bag and ADA Reagan is instructed to not mention the bag or any evidence that was produced from this illegal search."

"Dammit." Erin muttered, reading the affidavit.

"No further questions for Officer Reagan."

"Detective." Danny corrects, irritation boiling in his veins.

Erin continues to try the case but without the drug evidence or Danny's testimony, the case is weak and when the jury enters deliberation, she's feeling down. But as she exited the courtroom, she didn't expect Danny to be leave as well. She thought he'd leave after his testimony. He didn't usually stick around.

This time though he was waiting to speak to someone.

"Hey! Wait up." He called as Anna was trying to sneak away. Her hair whipped around as she did and it dried up the harsh words that sizzled on his tongue.

"Can I help you, Detective Reagan?"

"Yeah. You can help me solve something. Why would someone like you be working for a lowlife defense attorney for his lowlife client? You realize that kid is responsible for a sixteen year old's death?"

Anna rolled her eyes.

"Someone like me? I'm a private investigator. That's all you know about me. Sometimes I work for the bad guys. You know that now too."

"Yeah, yeah. I do now, don't I? You feel good about yourself then?"

"I sleep like a baby. How about you?"

"No. I lie awake at night, figuring out how to catch guys like the ones you just got off."

"I didn't get anyone off. Not yet."

"He's getting off and you know it. You don't feel even a little bit guilty about that?"

"It's not my job to make your job easier. If your boy had followed the rules, the guy would be going away for a while. Just because I discovered your people's mistake doesn't mean I'm at fault."

"That's how you excuse it? Seriously? You work for that Pavarotti joke?"

"I freelance. Jensen, Hughes and Associates pay my bills. Pavarotti is an associate. An asshole, yeah. But I was hired by a client."

"You have no say over that of course!" Danny remarks sarcastically.

"Whatever. I have somewhere to be. If you're done lecturing from atop the high horse." She rolls her eyes, brushing him off.

"Yeah. I'm done." Danny spits back at her but he doesn't walk away. She stares at him for a while, her eyes burrowing into his. She's the one who breaks off eye contact. She turns away. Danny can't control his eyes from looking her over as she does.

The guilty feeling, the feeling like he was cheating, returns.

Danny sits in popular bar for cops celebrating the birthday of another detective in his precinct. He's having a good time but can't get today's courtroom drama out of his head. For a second he thinks he's imagining it when he hears a familiar voice.

"Evan! Happy birthday, when are you retiring?" Anna asks the man of the hour. Danny turns to her. She hasn't seen him yet.

"Right after you accept my offer to run away with me." Evan Petrillo replies. The two hug a little long for Danny's tastes. He's jealous by nature. But he reminds himself he has no right or reason to be jealous. Though the part where she leans back in and whispers something in Petrillo's ear that makes him grin like the Mets just won- that he doesn't love so much.

"Annie, this is Hal, Ben, and Danny. All cops in the 5-4. Men, this is Annaliese Lowe. She takes pictures of men with their pants down." Petrillo jokes.

Anna sees Danny now but her face leaves Danny mystified as to her reaction. Or nonreaction, as it may be.

"What this dickhead means is I'm a PI. Nice to meet you Hal, Ben." She shakes hands with Ben and Hal. Then her eyes land on Danny. "Danny."

"You two know each other?" Petrillo asks.

"We've had a couple run-ins lately." Anna shrugs. "You buyin' me a beer or not, Evan?" This leads to Petrillo grinning again.

"You should be buying me a beer. Birthday boy, remember?"

"Ah but then you won't get any of my other gifts." Anna flirts. This leads to Petrillo grinning in the same way as before. Danny wonders if they're actually a thing or if the two of them just joke like that.

"Alright, I'll get you a beer. Then I gotta go mingle with the others. You and Danny can _run in_ again." Petrillo turns to the bartender. Danny pretends like he was talking to Hal and Ben, instead of listening in on her and Petrillo.

"So I hear your sister made a plea deal with Drug Dealing Ken." Anna remarks.

"Yeah, he'll be away for five years instead of fifteen. Nice work." Danny replies.

"At least he's going away."

"Aren't you Mrs. Brightside?"

"Miss, actually. Mrs. Brightside is my mother." She retorts. Despite his annoyance about the case, it makes him smile just for a second. "So your sister is pretty." She remarks. Danny raises his brow at her.

"You want her number or somethin'?" Danny asks.

"Nope. Just having a conversation."

"You and Petrillo a thing?"

"Are we- Evan? God, no. Well, okay. Once. But nah. We're just good buds."

"Yeah, I've done it once with all my good buds."

"I'm a woman in her prime."

"That you-" Danny cuts himself off. He was about to flirt with her. That felt like going too far too soon. Anna still smiles down at her beer at the almost compliment.

"Annaliese Lowe, is that you?" Michelle Brown, a narcotics detective, exclaims, approaching them.

"Michelle! It's great to see you."

"You two! How is your little girl?"

"Six going on sixteen. Attitude the size of our apartment. How is yours?"

"I mean, you think having a kid that's trying to be a teen is hard- just wait to the actual teen years. Danny can tell you. Right, Reagan?" Michelle claps him on the back.

"Yeah. I was less under fire in Fallujah when it comes two teen boys." Danny remarks.

"Hey, tell your brother and Eddie I said congrats when you get the chance. I've gotta run. Anna, you and I, sometime soon, should catch up?"

"I'd love that." The two hug. Michelle walks away.

Danny and Anna are left to sit in silence. Both of them feeling the awkward tension in the air. The awkwardness compounds when they take a sip of their beers at the exact same time.

"So you got a lot of friends in the-" Danny says just as Anna begins "So you always work in-" They both gesture for the other to continue. Anna relents first.

"So you always work in the Fallujah thing into conversations with women?"

"If you're implying I was bragging-"

"I'm not. It was a joke. To break the glacier that was forming between us."

"Understood."

"What branch were you in?"

"Marines."

"Oh. God." She remarks, putting her head in her hands.

"What? You gonna offend the U.S. Marines now?" Danny could feel himself getting riled up. He noticed she was good at doing that.

"No. My dad, he was a Marine. Always tried setting me up with Marines."

"Let me guess, you swore you'd never follow in that?"

"Bingo, buddy." Anna shrugged. "Too bad too. Because I really did think you were cute." This made Danny nearly cough up his beer. Anna slapped his back a couple times. "You okay there?"

"Been a while since someone's been that forward with me." Danny couldn't help but smile back at her.

"I could tell. I like shocking people."

"I could tell." Danny remarked. "You jealous your boyfriend's over there getting his face sucked by some blond?" Anna looks over at Evan in a booth, indeed, sucking face with a blond.

"More than that. I'm devastated. Simply devastated." Anna grinned. "Nah. He's the birthday boy. He deserves it. Besides… I'll let you in on a little secret. He's not very good. Lacks a sense of... _direction_."

For some odd, possibly perverted reason, this talk from her elicits a reaction in his pants that he hadn't felt in a while. This, of course, brings up the guilt that tastes like iron in his mouth again.

"Well, I gotta get going. Tell your boyfriend I had to call it a night."

"Will do, Detective." She mock salutes him. He gets up, unable to help the chuckle that escapes his chest.

Danny turns back around, to watch her. She glides over to Petrillo, tapping the blond on the shoulder. The blond makes a face and leaves. Danny turns back around and heads out before he can get jealous.


End file.
